Posts Tagged ‘Thou’

Today is a glorious feast in Eastern Orthodox Churches (especially in Slavonic ones) because on this day an ArchAngel Gabiel on Holy Mount Athos in year 773 handed an Angel song in praise of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary), Mother of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Liturgical use

The hymn is chanted at Matins, Compline, and other services; but its most important occurrence is at the Divine Liturgy, where it is chanted at the conclusion of the Anaphora. The second half of the hymn, "More honorable…" is frequently chanted before the dismissal which concludes services.

Often, the chanting of this hymn is followed by either a metania or a prostration.

All the World rejoices in You Holy Icon

Axion Estin (Greek) – It is truly meet

It is truly right to bless thee, O Theotokos, thou the ever blessed, and most pure, and the Mother of our God. Thou the more honorable than the cherubim, and beyond compare more glorious than the seraphim, who without corruption gavest birth to God the Word, thou the true Theotokos, we magnify thee.

This Sunday I was to Church and part of our Gospel Reading that occurs on every Holy Liturgy in the Orthodox Church this time we had the following reading:

Gospel of John Jesus Heals the Man Born Blind

1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? 3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. 4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. 6 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, 7 And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing. 8 The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? 9 Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he. 10 Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened? 11 He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight. 12 Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not.

The Pharisees Investigate

13 They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. 14 And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes. 15 Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see. 16 Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them. 17 They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet.

18 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight. 19 And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? how then doth he now see? 20 His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind: 21 But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself. 22 These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him.

24 Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner. 25 He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. 26 Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes? 27 He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples? 28 Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses' disciples. 29 We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is. 30 The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. 31 Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. 32 Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. 33 If this man were not of God, he could do nothing. 34 They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out.

Spiritual Sight and Blindness

35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? 36 He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? 37 And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. 38 And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. 39 And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. 40 And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? 41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

As you read above the Lord Jesus Christ healed the blind-born person by which manifesting Himself as a True expectedMessiah The Saviour of the Lord a Prophet and a True and Only Begotten Son of God.

The words of God directly fought the great proudness of Jewish Pharsiee wise people (thinking that know the Law better than the Lord himself). Their selfishness and great self-conceit make their soul which was in a terrible state to suffer because their produness was insulted by the truthful words and they felt wounded. They rejected the Lords words with a question by which Jewish (people) and nowadays often non-believers and even christian manifested wrath, selfishness and even mockery with contempt.

John 9:40 Are we blind also?

Answering the Pharisee's questions, The Lord has depicted there spiritual state, which was the main reason for their question.

41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

The Pharisee's considered for spiritual seers, in a highes level understandanding God, his laws covenant and respectively spiritual realm, so they did not need any further grown in God's knowledge, thus rejecting the true teaching which was taught by God himself.

False doctrines of this blind teachers are fruit of human proud and self-conceit. The proud understand himself as a independent, self-sufficient and not like a God dependent creation, the earthly life as something eternal and death and eternity for unexisting.

For this people God's plan was something not existing but God was understood as the Jewish law false teachers understanding of right and wrong in a way they have associated the eternal God with the scriptures, idolizing scriptures and inverting their meaning giving them a completely different meaning to fulfill their own passions.

This people who were to be the jewish intelligentia have recognized the human reason for a world ruler. All the thoughts of the flesh crawl the land, the human understanding to this carnal men is completely sacrificed to the earth in which he wants to arrange his life to be all time pleasure of sin. In this empty and unreachable goal was forced all the fleshly and spiritual powers of both pharisees and sadukees.

The Lord show them that the humbliness and remembrance of the dead should be the true lifely goal of man and it is the humble-wisdom that gives an insight to eternity.

Achiving humble-Wisdom contradicts the wordly and strive for virtues and therefore it is not being considered worth for man and society material understanding of good and progress. The one achiving spiritual knowledge understands himself as a tiny unimportant particle in a huge universe of things (generations, times, paste and future events of human history).

What the Lord Jesus Christ tried to point to this blind teachers is that only the Mind and heart of humble in contrasting to the proudness and high-minded people they were could accept God's Christian teaching and to all the time endeavor in achiving the christian virties. The non-blind person sees and feels the great failure of (his mainly) and then all surrounding humanity fallen nature and because of this soul-pain and internal and desire for salvation and spiritual resurrection and restoration are ready to joyfully accept the Saviour Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us make from our heart a spiritual altar of God and there through our mind to sacrifice spiritual sacrifices of tenderness, repentance, confession, humble heartness (which God would not despise (Ps. 50:19) Amen

There are a couple of curious Gipsy legends regarding the Crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the legend claims that the gypsies which were present on the Lord’s crucifix, tried stealing the nails because of Love for the Lord to prevent crucifixion and for this deed of them some legends say the Mother of God the Holy Virgin Mary blessed them to steal from all nations, also the legend said this give the Gipsys permissions to steal without breaking one of the 10th commandments “Thou shalt not steal“. Of course this legends are mainly circulating in gipsis communities mainly in Europe and we should consider and as every legend its probably just a myth, however I decided to place the legend here on my blog because while living in the Netherlands for 2.5 years I have been helped and had the opportunity to live among Bulgarian gipsy community and I was fascinated on the strongness of gipsies family relations – which in this time of family break up and lack of respect is quite of a blessing. It was also evident for me gipsies know how to keep together and support each other, something becoming more and more rare in the “highly civilized” but less and less mental / spiritual western world which in its intellectual revolution forgot how to live simple and free life which was originally given to us by God Almighty.

There are other variants of the legend also, some say it was a gipsy blacksmith which was ordered to prepare the nails for Jesus’s crucifix, other probably more modern Gipsy legends claim that a gipsy stole one of the 4 nails for the Crucifix and this is why the Lord was crucified with 3 nails (1 nail piercing both of his legs as Roman Catholic cross does) – however this legend is untrue because in the ancient Christian tradition it was 4 nails with which the Lord Jesus Christ was pierced on the cross. Another of the legends (probably not originating from Gipsys says), it was a gipsy blacksmith who made the nails to crucify Jesus Christ, beacuse of that the (Gipsys) were condemned to wander the earth and never settle.

Another version does not condemn blacksmiths. It says that the blacksmith was addressed by God in a dream, where he was told to make four nails, but only hand over three, as the fourth was intended to pierce the heart of Jesus. In return God gave his descendants the right to wander the earth (rather than cursing them to it) and also the right to steal from non-Romanies, without breaking the commandment Thou shalt not steal.

I spend the Christmas eve for a first time in Monastery with the brotherhood in Pomorie monastery. The night on 24-th against 25-th when Christmas is celebrated in Bulgaria was marked by the usual morning service and a Holy Liturgy. Silent Night Holy Night song was sung in the Church near the end of the Holy Liturgy.

All went well except small fire incident, out of a suddenr right after the end of the Church service a fire ignited in one of the monastery store rooms. Actually it was a huge miracle that the fire didn't spread in whole monastic cell buildings as the fire used to be active without anyone noticing it for about 6 hours or so. The restult of fire was that just one room full of sheets and sanitary equipment burn out completely. The fire happened in a room nearby my room on second stage one stage lower (on first floor). The fire brigade come quickly and stashed the fireplace without serious troubles.

The fire would have quickly spread if in the burning room if only one of the water tubes didn't break up pouring water inside on the burning stuff. The fire emerged around 12:40 and was already Ðµxtinguished for less than hour. Thanks God there was no one in the burning room and no victims Another sure miracle is that today weather is very calm no wind blowing so fire didn't ignited in a quick pace and was easily extinguished.

Below are the immersly beautiful Christmas Church Troparion, Kontaktion and Feast singings as translated to English

Thy nativity, O Christ our God, has shown to the world the light of wisdom; for by it, those who worshipped the stars were taught by a star to adore Thee the Sun of Righteousness, and to know Thee, the Orient from on high. O Lord, glory to Thee."

Today the virgin, gives birth to the incomprehensible One; and the earth offers a cave to the unapproachable One; Angels and shepherds glorify Him; the Wisemen journey with a star; since for our sakes is born the ETERNAL GOD, as a little Child.

Christ is born, glorify him. Christ is from heaven, go to meet him. Christ is an earth, be ye lifted up. Sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing out with gladness, all ye people. For he is glorified.

To the Son begotten of the Father without change before the ages, and in these last times without seed made flesh from a Virgin, to Christ God let us cry aloud: Thou hast exalted our horn. Holy are Thou, O Lord!'

Rod of the root of Jesse, and flower that blossomed from his stem, O Christ, Thou hast sprung from the Virgin. From the Mountain overshadowed by the forest Thou hast come, made flesh from her that knew not wedlock, O God who art not formed from matter. Glory to Thy power, O Lord.

As Thou art God of peace and Father of mercies, Thou hast sent us Thy Angel of great counsel, Who grants us peace; so we are guided by the knowledge of God, watching before dawn we glorify Thee, only Lover of mankind'.

The monster from the deep spat Jonas from its bowels like a new born babe, just as it had received him; while the Word having dwelt in the Virgin and taken flesh, came forth, yet kept her incorrupt, for being himself not subject to decay, he preserved his mother free from harm'.

The Youths brought up together in godliness, scorning the impious decree, feared not the threat of fire, but standing in the midst of the flame they sang: God of our Fathers, blessed are Thou!

The furnace moist with dew was the image and the figure of a wonder past nature; for it did not burn those it had received; even as the fire of the Godhead did not consume the Virgin's womb into which it has descended. Therefore in praise let us sing: Let all creation bless the Lord, and highly exalt Him to all the ages.

Magnify, O my soul, the most glorious Theotokos, more honourable and more glorious than the hosts on high. 'I behold a strange and wonderful mystery, heaven is the Cave, the Cherubim thrown — Virgin, the Manger the Place in which Christ lay, the God whom nothing can contain. Whom we praise and magnify.

I wish to my dear readers have a great and blessed Christmas Holiday time, let Christ's love, peace and mercies are abundant in your hearts!

Today, a day before the suffering of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ for our sins remission we do commemorate the day of the Last Supper or (The Supper of Mysteries) in the Orthdox Church.

According to our Church tradition today is the day on which the saviour has established the Church mystery of the Sacrements! (Eucharist)

Here are the exact passages from (Matthew 26:26-28), where by the word of the Lord the Eucharist was established:

“Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.'” (Mt. 26:26-28)

The feast is celebrated with a morning Holy Liturgy among all Eastern Orthodox Churches around the world. It’s common that many layman do confess and take the sacraments on this date.

Before sacraments are received we the layman confess our unworthiness for Christ and beg for him to make us worthy to receive the communion with the prayer:

I believe, O Lord, and I confess that Thou art truly the Christ, the Son of the Living God, who camest into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first (see 1 Tim 1:15).

I believe also that this is truly Thine own most pure Body, and that this is truly Thine own most precious Blood. Therefore I pray Thee: Have mercy upon me and forgive me my transgressions, committed in word and deed, whether consciously or unconsciously.

And make me worthy to partake without condemnation of Thy most pure Mysteries, for the remission of sins and unto life everlasting.

Of Thy Mystical Supper, O Son of God, accept me today as a communicant. For I will not speak of Thy Mystery to Thine enemies, neither like Judas will I give Thee a kiss; but like the thief will I confess Thee: “Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom.”

May the communion of Thy Holy Mysteries be neither to my judgment, nor to my condemnation, 0 Lord, but to the healing of soul and body.

This prayer is actually said everytime before we do take the sacraments through the year, so it’s one of the most-important prayers in our Orthodox Church life.

The Holy Communion establishment is also an act of remembrance a of the Lord’s suffering for the remission of our sins according to his commandment.

One major difference between Orthodoxy and Protestanism concerning Eucharist is that we orthodox believe that by taking the sacraments, we do receive the Most-holy flesh and blood of Christ and through his blood and flesh, the damage sin has created in our hearts, minds and souls (which is forgiven by God in the the mystery of the confessment) is being recovered completjely.